Stone Cold
by MissAdventurer
Summary: Infinity Energy had been in the Stone family for four generations. Mallory Stone wanted to save the world, Alexander Stone wanted to better it, Joseph Stone wanted to help it, and Steven Stone wanted to fight for it. No one knew how this sterling discovery had tainted this family's history.


Hey, I came up with this while working on another story I hope to post soon. I'be been thinking a lot about Infinity Energy. In ORAS, it's revealed that Devon Corp became the giant it is from the use of Infinity Energy. It's implied that this energy comes from Pokemon's life energy. This is my way of figuring it all out and how I want to use it in my later stories and exploring on it. Enjoy.

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Mallory Stone grinned at the sight. Before him was a true demonstration of power, of energy. He was one of the few outsiders to witness such a feat and to truly understand what it meant for the world. He saw the infinite possibilities.

He had traveled months to get here, spent longer talking his way in, arranging everything. He had heard others speak of the sight, but he knew either they didn't understand it or it must have been false. Such a thing needed to be seen with one's own eye, and now that he saw it, he saw more.

In coastal Kalos, evolution of this… power had been known for centuries. Before him, two Lucario fought, but at the same time, they were not Lucario. They're fur longer, red tainting theirs paws, stripes of black going across their bodies, and strength radiating from them. Their masters had done what they referred as "Mega Evolution." They had called out two ordinary Lucario, and, in a flash of colors, of energy, transformed their partners into even more worthy adversaries. When the match ended, one Lucario fainting while the other stood, they reverted back in the same glare of light.

Mallory Stone was astounded by the sight, truly astounded. He asked the young trainers, a young man and woman who lived at this Tower of Mastery, and the elder sage how exactly they could do that, what power changed their Pokemon. The old man stared at him and said he did not know. "It is a mystery we are still trying to master, one, I imagine, we won't ever truly understand, even in another thousand years. All I know is, it's comes from true power, the power forged between man and Pokemon." And that satisfies you? "Yes. Those that go looking for power, are often lost to it. One must have an anchor before they go off to sea, or else the waves will take them."

Mallory Stone wasn't satisfied with the aging man's answer; however, he was young, he was brilliant, and he wanted to save the world. He stayed in Kalos for three years before returning to his home in Hoenn. He searched for every mention of this power, every piece of knowledge that could be acquired. He learned the story of a young king who lived during a terrifying war. When the king's beloved Pokemon, a peaceful small thing, was killed by the cruelty of war, the king was overcome with grief, so he saved it from the permanence of death. He used the energy that surrounded Pokemon and created a device so grand that it could defy the rules of life and death. When the invention was destroyed, the energy was released. It took the forms of stones, Mega Stones. With the right Pokemon, these stones could cause Mega Evolution. The Pokemon were the key to unlocking this energy.

Before he left for Hoenn, he paid a group of young people, wide eyed and eager to help, to go search strong Pokemon and Pokemon he had learned were capable of Mega Evolution. He also paid another group to go searching for Mega Stone, find stone collectors and explorers and cave diggers, find anyone with these stones, and purchase the stones from them. No one knew their true worth but him. Both groups came through more than he could have hoped.

Back in Hoenn, he set up a small company, Devon, meaning "defender." He hired the most astute scientists and engineers he could afford to and set up a lab. He was determined to be the first to understand this energy. He studied the Pokemon and stones day and night for years. At some point, during on of those long nights, a breakthrough was made. All Pokemon harbored this energy, just only some to harness it. Any Pokemon could be substitute from this energy.

Mallory Stone would never say how he learned that Pokemon were composed of this energy and how they released it when they died. He never wrote it down and if any records were made of that dreadful first experiment, they were destroyed before his son took over the company. Mallory Stone took great care to make sure no one knew of what was happening in his labs, those ones outside his hometown of Rustboro. He hired teams to capture Pokemon and bought Pokemon population control companies. No one would mind if a few pests disappeared, if anything their lower populations were a good thing. More room for people and other Pokemon, more room for food to be grown.

Mallory Stone had only married once in his life. A young woman from Rustboro, Catherine. He had known her since they were children, had loved her since the school yard. When his fortune was near fruition, he asked her to marry him. He wanted her by his side. He never told her how he learned of the energy he dubbed "Infinity Energy," never told her of the experiments and the harvesting. He supposed she thought he had Pikachu and Voltorbs using Thunder for electricity and Water-types making hydropower. She never knew, she didn't need to know. It was all for the betterment of people and Pokemon, it was all for a better world.

They had two sons together: Andrew and Alexander, only two years apart. Andrew drowned when he was three. Mallory and Catherine Stone had taken their young sons to the see the ocean, to be a family who had everything falling into place. Catherine cradled Alexander in her arms while Mallory and Alexander searched for rocks and sea shells. When Alexander began to brawl, Mallory left Andrew by the water while he went to check of his younger son. Andrew had become fascinated with one of the Pokemon in the water, a Marill. Andrew had chased the Marill into the water, grabbing its tail. His parents looked up when they heard the splash. The Marill pulled the boy under, who, in his fear, didn't let go. Mallory and Catherine found him when his small body finally washed up onto the sand.

One could consider this the point the Mallory finally lost the idealism, his hope, and the last ounce of mercy he had. He felt nothing towards Pokemon anymore. They had taken a treasure from him worth more than any stone in the world. With the death of his son, he and his wife divorced five years later, Catherine getting custody of Alexander. He would get Alexander back in another three years, after Catherine died in a fatal accident. Even then, he rarely saw his son until he was an adult. He attended boarding school on the other side of the region. The world was far too flawed. It needed someone to save it.

No one would have know the final death count of Mallory Stone's deeds. After his son's death, he ceased using the stones as a source, focusing solely on extracting the life energy from the Pokemon he had gathered. Records were kept closely, and protected even more. Mallory wouldn't have anyone stealing this work, his life's work and genius. It was the only performances he had left. He wasn't one for shame.

Alexander Stone began working for his father when he was eighteen. They had saw little of each other his whole life. Alexander was a brilliant inventor and even more brilliant when it came to energy. He was kind young man and had several close friends, including one of in Sootopolis, one who told him about the old legends surrounding Hoenn from the days of old during late nights in their dorm room. Prior to his employment, he had taken little interest in the family business, it was merely a technology company that had a particular interest in energy. He figured he would do fine there, he was expected to pick it up when his father stepped down or, at the rate the man went, died.

He married at twenty-one to a beautiful young woman named Dianne. Her father was one of the border members of a small, new company called Greater Mauville Holdings. It was no competition for Devon Corp. They had meet at boarding school. She was brilliant woman, even more so than him in some ways. She had a gift for languages, for people and ideas. When she talked, everyone listened. He had loved to hear her speak.

Alexander was twenty-five, his father fifty-eight, when he learned of what his father was doing. He doesn't think his father meant it to happen like it did, walking in on "experiment" as he had. His curiosity had grown over the years had he worked there and his frustration even more so with his father. He had no idea what was going on in the company and yet it was supposed to one day be his. His father never told him the source of the energy, simply praising it for its potential to bring peace and fix the world. Such words seemed flat from a man who had turned so cold. Alexander had studied energy, he earned a two degrees in it. He was brilliant, he knew he be could be vital, he could be important.

He had gone to the labs, got in with a made up a story about being sent there by his father and unearned authority. He had ran into an man he had known since he had first started, a scientist a few years his senior. He convinced the scientist to show him one of their energy experiments. He didn't realize anything was wrong until they brought in a howling Poochyena, placed it in a cage in the experimental room they observed from above and turned the machine on. The howling and cries subsided a moment later.

Alexander had been horrified at what had been done. He ran from the room, drove faster than was legal back to Rustboro, and marched into his father's office without thinking another thought. The two fought viciously for hours, screaming of pains that had never healed and yelling words that would never heal. No one dared to interrupt.

Mallory Stone died three days later of a stroke. Alexander never heard about what Mallory had done from him. He had learned from the records and research. He didn't go to his father's funeral. He had never really been a father to him. He went a got a drink instead. The first of many.

Alexander Stone put an ended to the slaughter when he became president, but even he could not turn a blind eye to the ideas this energy held. It was infinite after all. He told the researchers to get back to work, but to keep their heads this time around. A year later, they discovered Pokemon gave off this energy in battles and in regular evolution. Battles were becoming more common, one could imagine a whole industry around in another decade or two. He built a new facility, having torn down the old one. He hired people who knew how to battle and train Pokemon, ones willing to do it for pay only. None of them ever could complete a Mega Evolution.

He and his wife had one son together, Joseph. When he was born, Alexander had thought that he would be better than his own father, who he had never really known. As a young boy, Joseph developed an interest in geology, so he filled his room with books about it, purchased gems when for the boy when he travelled, and allowed him to tell him about the rocks he found at the park with his mother at dinner. He saw little of his son because of his work, but he tried to at least give the boy some good memories of him.

As the company grew, so did the work with it. The work was slow and tedious and the businessmen dull and shortsighted. Over the years, his idealism dulled with age as it does for most and what age didn't killed, business, or his particular business, did. Business didn't have that same awe that science and engineering held for him. There was no grand scheme of things, no humanity, only the next quarter's profits. His wife was traveling more, taking their son with her. He was a smart young lad. He didn't have his mother's gift for language, but he did have her gifts for people and ideas and his for inventing. Alexander knew his son would do fine, even if he never said it.

Joseph Stone had been raised by his mother most his life. She had taught him practically all he knew. She had showed him the world. She indulged his interests and encouraged him. She smiled at any idea for an invention he thought of. As a boy, she even helped him make rough plans, like those engineers that worked for his father. She took him to museums and introduced him to geologists her friends knew. She taught him things he didn't necessarily care for, but saw them as important regardless. She took him to the theater and to art museums and historical sites. Starting when he was ten, she let go find things to do on his own while she met with her clients in whichever city they were in that week. She gave him a Castform to go with him. She figured it would be more practical than those heavy Aron. That was how he met Eleanor.

Catherine and Joseph were in Kalos when Joseph was fifteen. They were in Shalour City. Joseph had no idea that his grandfather had been there decades ago. While his mother met with her client, he roamed the city. He met Eleanor on the beach, the Tower of Mystery in sight. She had been searching for stones on the beach with her Espurr. They talked for awhile and wander together. They met each day that he was there and talked about anything and everything. She wanted to be a geologist, wanted to explore. She was studying mythology and legends. She wanted to see those ruins for herself one day, find mysteries they held. When his time in Shalour City ended, he left back for Hoenn and she stayed in Kalos. They promised to meet up again one day. He promised to be a brilliant inventor and she promised to learn the origins of Mega Evolution.

As the dreary work grew and the comfort of his wife and son dwindled, Alexander Stone's drinking habit grew. A drink every once in awhile to celebrate became a drink once a week and that became a drink every night. His son was a teenager now and he seemed to be avoiding him. He saw his wife even less. Their relationship had become distant and his drinking didn't help at all. Their house was more of a mansion now and it wasn't hard for them to avoid each other, especially at night. They hadn't shared a bed in over a year. He shared his life with a bottle his wife had once screamed at him when their son wasn't home to hear.

When their son had moved out to study, still in his late teen years, Catherine called it quites. She couldn't take life with him anymore, couldn't take home not being a home anymore, her son never wanting to visit. She and Alexander divorced. She moved out. She had plenty of money of her own to support herself and Joseph was near grown. She didn't want a cent from a man like him, she said.

Over those years, as his drinking had picked up and his family broke down, his attention and care for the methods of the Infinity Energy research teams had waned. He knew what was happening, he seened it, he had signed off on it. He knew the battles weren't battles anymore, more works of sadists. The Pokemon's evolutions came sooner than under any normal or healthy circumstances. He knew those battles were fights to the death and those evolutions weren't from training but from force. He had turned cold to it. He turned a blind eye and took another sip.

He never told his son about Infinity Energy himself. Joseph would hear about it from another source.

He died of alcohol poisoning. As a young man, he swore to never be like his father, cold and cruel, but in the end, he couldn't be anything but. He never told his son about Infinity Energy himself. Joseph would hear about it from another source. Like his father, he didn't make it to sixty and would leave a scarred legacy. Unlike his father, though, his own son attended the funeral.

His father died when he was twenty-two. He hadn't been in the company long, only a few months. He and his father hadn't spoke since he was hired. Joseph would live to regret that. He went to the funeral and buried his father. His mother was off in Sinnoh when he died and couldn't return in time for the funeral. She came back for her son though. Suddenly, he was at the head of large company with no idea about what to do and what had been going on. He learned learned of the abuse and death, the horrors, when the girl he met, and, perhaps in the way teenagers do, loved, walked into his father's - no, his office. She met him with a steely look.

Her uncle had worked for his father. He had been one of the scientists at the Infinity Energy lab three years ago. He quit after a month and left a high bonus and an oath of silence. When her uncle heard of the death of Alexander Stone and heard her mention having met Joseph Stone several years back, her uncle told her what he had seen. At the time, she couldn't believe he knew about it, so she traveled to Hoenn to confront him. If it were true, she could not allow him to allow him to do anymore harm.

Joseph Stone had no idea about two things at that moment: what she was talking about and what she was threatening to do. He knew about Infinity Energy, had heard his father mention it as well as employees. He didn't know what she talking about and told her so. He left to go to the labs himself, Eleanor coming with on her own insistence.

One perk, or perhaps curse, of being President meant he had a master code to any facility and in room owned by Devon Corp. Nothing was off limits to him. He and Eleanor had come without warning to the lab. He came during one of the "battles". They stood on the observation desk and saw the fight come to a permanent end. Mightyena was fighting a Houndoom. The Houndoom was ripping out the Mightyena's throat.

His first act as president was the shut down the facility. He shouted at everyone in there that he could. He forced them out. He had no idea how to fix any of this. He called up the two leading scientists. One he kicked out of the room after five minutes of talking. The man was useless in getting real answers. The second one apparently still had some resemblance of a soul left. Joseph Stone was appalled when he learned what had been done by his father. The scientist had worked there for years and told him about what his grandfather had started. He demanded the research that had been done of everything that had been done.

He read all of them. He read about what his grandfather had done, the bloodbath had created. He read about what his own father had done, the graphic fights and torture. They never laid a hand on any of the Pokemon, but at the same time killed them. He threw up. Eleanor had followed him home. She stayed with him, she read about what happened too. She didn't allow him to get a drink that night or any night after.

He spent the first few years of his presidency fixing what had been done by his father and grandfather. He had the facility torn down, like his father before him. This time, instead of rebuilding, he had a shrine built there, something practical for the Pokemon that lived that yet something appropriate. The word of what had happened never really left Devon Corp then. How that was, Joseph never really found out. He didn't want to know what was said or done to buy such tight silence.

Eleanor and him kept in close contact, talking often. Joseph doubts he would have survived those early years without her. She continued on with her own work as a geologist. She was apart of a dig team that travelled to ruins and ancient sites. She loved her work.

She and Joseph married when he was twenty-six and she was twenty-five. They welcomed their son, Steven, a year later.

The battle industry was picking up quickly. His father had missed the start, but Joseph could see the potential. He needed something to save the company this the downgrading of energy production. He saw potential where his father had missed it. These trainers and leagues could be a saving grace to the world.

He preserved the research from the facility, every note and journal on the "experiments" his grandfather and father had done and allowed. They were given their own storage room at Devon headquarters. They were sealed in file cabinets behind a locked door on a floor one needed a code to access. No one was told of their location unless need be. He hated that work more than anything, but he knew history forgotten was history repeated.

Joseph made the difficult decision to allow for research on Infinity Energy, but unlike his father and grandfather, he would watch it closely and put in precautions to prevent harm from coming to Pokemon. He refused to allow any research to be done of Pokemon's bioenergy in Devon Corp. Their study would focus on Mega Stone and other stones and gems that could have preserved similar energy, if lower. The Infinity Energy could be used to create helpful things, like Pokeballs. They could make things people would like, things to make people happy, without the blood.

Steven was a brilliant child, even without parent bias. Joseph was proud of his son. He tried to spend as much time with him he could. Eleanor had taken time off of traveling with her expedition group to stay with Steven. She wanted be there to see his early years. Joseph helped her whenever he was home. He took days off so she could go out with friends and meet with coworkers and acquaintances who happened to be passing through Rustboro. When he worked at home, he held Steven in his lap or carried him as he read paperwork. He read books to him whenever he could and praised him for even the smallest feat. Steven developed a fascination in rocks when he was old enough, which wasn't surprising given both his parents. This always gave Joseph a starting point when he was with Steven. Joseph loved his son more than anything.

When Steven was five, the past came back to haunt. There had been a spy in Devon Corp. and they had gotten access to Joseph's father's and grandfather's old research. The spy, Joseph would later learn, took pictures of and made copies of the work. Greater Mauville Holdings announced the creation of Sea Mauville only six months after the theft of information took place. They built a floating research facility, said they were studying energy in the sea. They also announced the creation of New Mauville. They seemed to be expecting a great breakthrough.

Two years after the theft, Mauville gym leader and electrical engineer Wattson came forward about what had been taking place at Sea Mauville. The Pokemon League, Environmental Protection Agency of Hoenn, Pokemon Protection Agency of Hoenn, and the Department of Business Ethics of Hoenn all sent teams to investigate. This turned into a disaster for both Greater Mauville Holdings and Devon Corp. Wattson had revealed the source of the information Sea Mauville had used to do what it had done. An investigation was launched on Devon Corp. as well.

Greater Mauville Holdings practically went under. Devon Corp would have too if it weren't for Joseph Stone. He didn't hide what his father and grandfather had done, and told how he had learned about it. His fast acting several years earlier probably saved his skin during this grilling interviews. He handled the business as well as he could, rearranging and prioritizing as needed, making statements and reassessing policy even more.

Outside of business, the blow had struck him hard. Some many Pokemon had met a cruel end because of his family. It didn't seem to stop, even when it wasn't a Stone. History repeated when forgotten, but it also had a funny habit of repeating when remembered too.

He knew from old Devon employees he'd rather not meet again that his father hadn't learned the truth about his own father until he was twenty-five. Joseph hadn't learned until he was twenty-two. He decided to break that cycle. Steven learned was seven. He didn't get the learning experience like his father and grandfather. Joseph had sat down with Steven and explained that they had done bad things to Pokemon and that the Sea Mauville people had used what they did to hurt more Pokemon. Joseph hated to think this was something a seven year old had to know about his family.

When Steven was nine, Eleanor decided to return to work. She had joined by up with her team in Sinnoh at Mt. Coronet. Her group had met up with a Sinnohan group led by the Shirona, a husband and wife team. They were investigating the origins of Sinnoh.

Joseph Stone had been at the office when he received the call. There had been a tunnel collapse. There were no survivors.

Eleanor was buried in the Rustboro cemetery, as far away from father and grandfather as possible. He bought the plot next to her for when he eventually joined her.

Steven had always been a quiet child, preferring to keep to himself than join others or make noise. Joseph had even brought him to work before and allowed him to silently read or color or study the rock collection he kept there in one of the spare chairs or on the ground without a problem. After his mother's death, he became even quieter. In his own grief, he didn't know quite how to handle it.

When Steven was ten, Joseph gave him his first Pokemon. A Beldum. He knew his son needed a friend, but he also knew he didn't have anyone his own age. A Pokemon would keep him company and keep him out of trouble. He was starting to have quite the imagination. He told him a month before he had seen a red and white Pokemon that could fly and talk. He had called him out to see it and then said it was invisible when nothing was there. A real Pokemon would do him some good. Luckily, Steven loved the Beldum. It would prove to be one of his longest and closest companions.

Steven was eleven when the Mauville situation had wrapped of for the most part and Joseph brought it up again with his son. Sea Mauville had sunk partially into the sea so it was made into a Pokemon reserve. Let what harmed fix the damage done. Joseph made sure Steven was there for the dedication and knew why it existed in the first place.

Steven had excelled in school. He managed to skip year and, when he was fifteen, decided to take a gap year. A year to take on the Hoenn League. Young people leaving home or school for a short time was starting to become more common. Joseph had been spending more time at the company than home during that time and decided to allow Steven to travel. He and his Beldum left home with the agreement that when he returned, he put his league ambitions aside until he finished his schooling.

Steven Stone made it into the League tournament at sixteen. He made it to the quarterfinals. He was talented at battling. Both of them knew it wouldn't be the last time Steven was in a league.

Steven returned and finished his schooling and started learning about Devon Corp. He studied stones and gems in a free time. Caves became his main training locations. He would have made a brilliant geologist just as his mother was in another life. He hadn't let his league ambitions and duty to Devon end his love. His collection became quite impressive.

He was nineteen when he found his Metagrossite. He was twenty when he figured out how to Mega Evolve.

Steven Stone was twenty-one when he became the Hoenn League Champion.

He was twenty-five when the world threatened to end.


End file.
